Tuesday, October 07, 2008

I was at a card shop tonight and found this in the two-for-a-dollar bin. The multiple card shops near the home of my youth probably didn't carry these, because I don't have any (except for Robin Yount, of course). I'm a little dubious about each of these cards being actual league leaders, but I realize that making it to the top ten in a stat is still a pretty big deal, so I'll include each player's best stat here.

Let's tear in.

Top to Bottom:31 Mike Moore: #3 in ERA (2.61) and victories (19).15 "The Girl Who Loved" Tom Gordon: #2 in batting average against (.210).80 Tony Gwynn: #1 in batting average (.336) and hits (203). That's a monster season.5 Nick Esasky: #3 in RBI (108)45 Checklist: Led in no major categories in 1989, but landed just outside the top 10 in balks and hit batsmen.17 Bret Saberhagen: #1 in victories (23), ERA (2.16), and mullet curliness (9.75 on the Jagr scale).68 Juan Samuel: #2 in stoled bases (42, tie).65 David Cone: #4 in strikeouts (190).

Grade: BThe Nick Esasky card surprised me the most. Getting the Saberhagen makes me hope the Royals can get into the playoffs soon. Their streak is now the longest absence from the playoffs (not counting the Expos/Nationals drought, which is only really suffered by Montreal natives who had to relocate because their corporations moved their jobs to D.C.) Royals fans have been suffering since 1985, plus I met some nice Royals fans when KC came to Milwaukee back in 2007. They've really had little to cheer for recently, aside from a baseball card with a huge hole punched in it.

Also, way to go Topps on the single color scheme and white-backed card stock, a nice break from the monstrosity that was its 1990 base set.